


Apple to my Eye

by HintehDehPengu



Category: Smosh
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Eventual Smut, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:47:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27563260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HintehDehPengu/pseuds/HintehDehPengu
Summary: Damien is a new teacher at Blandview High, and quickly realises that his former best friend from college, Shayne, is a teacher there. The two reconnect, and continue to suppress their feelings for one another. With help from the other staff, can they pull it off?
Relationships: Damien Haas & Shayne Topp, Damien Haas/Shayne Topp
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	1. Prologue - A Reminiscence

**Author's Note:**

> M/M ahead (duh), you've been warned. It's also gonna be slow at first, but I want to eventually include smut. I've tried to include all the Smoshcast but if I miss anyone out, tell me and I'll try work them in somehow without ruining the narrative. Any criticism is appreciated as I'm always trying to improve!
> 
> Credit to Starlight_Reading for the title and the cover on Wattpad!

Damien splashed water on his stubble covered face, attempting to wake himself up. It was 5:30am on a Monday; no time to be up, unless you were a teacher, of course.

For 4 years, Damien had studied teaching at the University of California. After which, he moved to Ohio to pursue a job offer as a drama teacher. He'd got the job with no problems, of course. He was charismatic, good with the teens, despite their hormones, and was an all around great guy.

Our story is set three years later. Damien had left Ohio to be closer to his family back in California. He always found his teaching fulfilling, but his personal life was always lacking. Barely any friends, no social life, and no romance. 

So when he moved back to California, and got a job at Blandview High, the last person he expected to see in the teachers lounge was… Shayne Topp.

For some clarification; the two had studied together for the four years at University, and were best friends for their entire time there. When it came to graduation, and Damien leaving, Shayne couldn't be more happy for his friend, but sad for his departure. 

Of course, if you asked any of their roommates back from uni, they would tell you that the two had massive crushes on one another. The sort that usually were the result of a lacking in communication. This simply wasn't the case for these two. They told each other everything, except the one thing they didn't know they had in common - liking the other person. Maybe it was a fear of commitment, maybe it was a fear of being rejected. 

* * *

Damien had walked in to the teachers lounge, and scanned the room, looking at all his new coworkers. Then his eyes fell to Shayne. "Oh my god." He said, mouth agape. Shayne looked up from his coffee, eyes widening. He stood, after placing his coffee nicely on the table. "Dames!" He threw his arms up, walking over to the taller man and throwing his arms around him. "I missed you, man. How was Ohio?" He asked, scratching the back of his head after the hug was broken. "It was good. I missed you too, dude." Damien smiled. Shayne had certainly aged well, and was it possible he was even more jacked?

"But, ah, anyways. What're you doing here? Don't tell me you're replacing Mr. Defy." Shayne had practically asked his own question. "I didn't know the guy's name, but yeah. I'm the new teacher here!" Damien exclaimed proudly.

Shayne didn't know how to take this. On one hand, he had his best friend back. On the other hand, this made things exceptionally harder for his love life. 

You see, Shayne had only just jumped back into the dating pool recently, and met a guy he was interested in. But with Damien back in the picture, what does this mean?

I guess we'll have to see…


	2. First Day Nerves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damien gets to his classroom, the drama hall, and meets two lovely ladies who show him the ropes. After which, he tries his hand at entertaining the students of Blandview High with his unique drama teaching style.
> 
> Meanwhile, Shayne stares at a clock and wonders when class is over, drooling over Damien, like a teenager all over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post! Really want to reach 2k words on each chapter if I can. Finding the motivation to write, alongside not burning myself out, is hard!
> 
> Anyway, enough complaining. Please enjoy!

After the bombshell that was “Hey, you’re working with a former friend who you wanted to fuck through college”, Damien was more than a little bit nervous about his time at Blandview. He sauntered into the drama hall, where he saw two ladies conversing. He waved to them, but they seemed pretty preoccupied to even notice him. He walked over, and the two noticed him. “Ahh, you must be replacing Mr. Defy. Welcome!” The fairer skinned girl pulled Damien into a hug, which took him by surprise. “Oof-.” The blonde just laughed. “Sorry, she gets like that. Lack of human touch from being a drama teacher, you know?” The other girl said, chuckling. “Jackie, that is so not true!” 

The other girl, whose name was apparently Jackie, continued laughing. “Hah, don’t worry, I’ve not had much dick....” Damien stopped himself, beginning to go red in the face. “...touch recently.” He rubbed the back of his head, a metaphorical drip of sweat falling down his forehead. “Aw, man, there goes Brianna’s chance with the new teacher.” Jackie joked. “Oh my god, Jackie, stop, you’re scaring the poor man.” The blonde regained her composure. “I’m Courtney. Ms Miller.” She said. “And I’m Jackie. Ms Uweh if you’re nasty.” She cackled, almost like a witch.

“Well; Ms Miller, Ms Uweh. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Damien bowed. “And I’m sorry for my, uh, confession. It was an accident.” He went red again, just when it had almost cleared up. “No problems. So. Looks like you’ve got an annoying class first thing. Kids to look out for specifically; Brianna Boho, she’s a slut. She’s gonna flirt with you, just ignore her. Jordan Schwartz, he’s the class clown but isn’t actually very funny. Also ignore him.” Courtney smacked her lips affirmingly, Jackie nodding along with her. “Got it. But… we shouldn’t be calling the kids ‘sluts’, right? That’s… slut shaming.” Damien chuckled nervously, having been at the butt of the slut shaming jokes in highschool and college, simply for being gay. “Oh, it’s not slut shaming. To be honest, I think she has a great career ahead of her as a social media influencer.” Courtney explained, and Damien opened his mouth to speak, closing it shortly after. “Gotcha.” He nodded. “Anyways, we’d best leave you to get acquainted with the room. There’s masks over there, costuming over there, coffee station over there…” Courtney pointed to each part of the room. “I think that’s all…” She nodded to herself, and began to walk out, waving to Damien. He waved back. Jackie followed suit, but not before saying to Damien; “Seriously, watch out for Jordan…” And then running off. 

Damien, while confused, just shook it off. Despite being nervous, this was his first class. He was excited! He wandered over to the costuming, noting the plethora of wigs. In his old school, he was known for donning a crazy character each and every class. He held up a brown wig, it looked like a mullet, and he chuckled. It might take him a while before he started doing that again… He shook his head a little, before turning round and meeting eyes with a boy in a red hoodie. He jumped a little, getting scared. “Ah- gosh, you scared me!” Damien laughed nervously. 

“You’re the new teacher, right?” He asked. Damien just nodded. “Yes, I am Mr Haas. I take it you’re here for class?” Damien put the brown wig back into the costumes nook, and began to walk over to the stage. “Yeah! I’m Jordan, Jordan Schwartz. My reputation as a dank meme lord is vast, I bet you already knew of me!” Jordan crossed his arms, nodding in a typical... California fuckboy fashion? Sure. “Ah, well, I have heard of you from a few teachers… however, I can’t say I’ve heard of your memes.” Damien began to put on a character towards the end of his sentence. Maybe he was getting more comfortable after all…

* * *

Meanwhile, Shayne found himself knocking on the Social Studies classroom door. “Come in!” Tommy chirped. Shayne opened the door, pulling up a chair to Tommy’s desk and sitting down. “So, I can tell you came to see me because of a romance issue, so fire away.” Tommy continued typing on his keyboard, whilst turning his body towards Shayne to indicate he was listening. “So… you know how you set me up with that guy, and we’ve been on dates and stuff and it’s going well?” Shayne began, sighing out loud. “Well, an old flame just started working here and… well. I’m a little torn.”

“How old is this flame?” Tommy asked, taking his gaze away from his computer screen fully. It seemed Shayne had got his full attention. “We were best friends in college… it’s been three years.” Shayne twiddled his thumbs. Tommy inhaled sharply through his teeth. “Best friends? Yikes…” Shayne just shot him a death look. “Alright, alright… I’ll let you finish!” Tommy threw his arms up in the air. 

“Damien and I… well. It’s so painfully obvious that we like each other. But I think it was always... I don’t know. A fear of commitment, maybe? Or a fear of being rejected? I like his smile… his goofiness. He was always so nice to everybody he met, even when they were dicks to him.” Shayne smiled, looking up to his imaginary thought bubble. 

“Riiight… and how do you feel about Chad?” Tommy asked, looking at Shayne knowingly. “Uh…” Shayne paused. “He… gives good…” He shook his head. “I think the answer is clear. I think you gotta drop Chad.” Tommy said, turning back to his monitor. Shayne stood, nodding. “Thanks, Tommy. I needed this chat.” Tommy just smiled, and Shayne walked out of the classroom. He checked his watch. Time to get to his classroom, quick! He only had a few minutes.

* * *

As the bell rang, students flooded into their respective classrooms. For Damien, he had a class of 28 seniors. All students that he’d have to get on his side, make them feel comfortable. “Alright! Is this everyone?” He smiled, looking over the students to make sure he could count 28. 27… 27? 

“Oh my god, so sorry I’m late Mr Defy-.” A blonde girl stumbled in. “Oh my god. You’re not Mr Defy.” She added. “Ah, no. I’m your new drama teacher, Mr Haas. Please, come in, and try not to be late next time.” The girl stumbled in, standing with her peers. “Yeah. I’m Brianna.” She played with her hair for a spell, looking at Damien, right into his eyes. “Alright, that’s everyone, then.” Damien nodded, grabbing a top hat to distract himself from Brianna. “I’m not sure how Mr Defy used to teach you, but, I like to really engage with my students and get to know how they learn on a deeper level.” Brianna gasped. “Oh my god, Mr Haas, are we going to third base?” Damien just sighed, shaking his head. “No, Brianna. And I’ll have away with those sorts of suggestions.” He found himself putting on a character again. Damn, maybe he was already finding his pace?

“So. Let’s all group up in groups of two, and I’m going to give you each a prompt. Try a little bit of improv.” Jordan immediately turned to Rachel. “Rachel, will you-.” He began. “No, Jordan, I’m not going to be your partner.” Rachel scoffed, walking off to find someone else to partner with. Brianna had attached herself to Bryce, and Jordan seemed to be the only one left. “Aw, fuck no.” Augustus looked over at Jordan. “Sir! Sir! I refuse to be with this unfunny man.” He spoke with a sort of lisp. “Ah, um, well… it seems you two are the only ones left. So I’m afraid you’ll have to-.” Damien was interrupted by Jordan. “It’s okay, Augustus. I promise I won’t annoy you.” He smiled, almost sincerely. Augustus huffed, walking over to Jordan, crossing his arms. “If you say ANYTHING about mayonnaise, I’m walking!” He said, rather dramatically. “Alright, I’ll be condiment free! Blurp!” Jordan laughed at his own joke. What joke? I don’t know.

Damien was amazed. How the hell did these kids have such personality? “Well, um… I think we should start with Brianna and… what’s your partners name?” Bryce took off his sunglasses. “I’m Bryce.” He said, before leading Brianna to the stage. “Right, well, Brianna and Bryce… you are both visiting the zoo, and one of you has discovered that the monkeys have escaped.” Brianna gasped. “Oh my god, yes. Okay so we’re in the zoo.”

Brianna looked around, gasping. “Oh my god, Bryce, the monkeys are gone!”

“It’s okay, babe. I’ll protect you, babe.” Bryce answered back, not putting too much effort into the performance.

“No, you don’t get it, Bryce! How am I going to get pictures with the monkeys for my Instagram account? What if none of the other animals have sex so we can film it?” 

“It’s okay, babe. I’ll protect you, babe.” Bryce said again, but with a different intonation this time.

Damien couldn’t help but sigh, before half heartedly clapping before Brianna had the chance to say anything else. “Well, uh, thanks for that… certainly interesting performance!”

* * *

Twenty minutes of improv went by, and it finally came to Augustus and Jordan’s turn. “Alright, Augustus. You are the chef at a restaurant, and Jordan has just complained that the food is cold.” Damien nodded, liking the idea.

“EXCUSE ME!” Jordan yelled.

“Yes, sir? Would you mind keeping it down?” Augustus walked out, arms crossed.

“This food is cold! How do you expect me to eat such cold food?”

“Sir, this establishment prides itself on having piping hot food, and really yummy dishes, including the all important mayonnaise.”

“Come feel this damn dish, man!” Jordan stomped his foot. “It’s FROZEN!”

“Sir, I assure you that this dish is hot.”

“BLURP! It’s not hot AT ALL!” Jordan screamed at the top of his lungs, and Damien had to cut the scene off there before he lost his hearing. Jordan bowed to the audience that then rolled their eyes. “Oh, come on, that was amazing! BLURP!” 

* * *

Shayne was sat in silence. He loved assignment time. It was his favourite time of class. Everyone is quiet, sat down, writing. It was the best time to catch up on paperwork, or read a book, or think about Damien-. Damn it. He’d only just met him again, and now he’s on his mind constantly. 

He stared off into space, sighing aloud. He could only wait for lunch break… maybe the two could go out somewhere for lunch, or… just sit in the teachers lounge. The two had a lot to talk about, Shayne was sure of it. But would his feelings come into the picture, or… no. They worked together now, that was weird. He’d have to get Sarah’s permission first. But how would that go down? Damn.

“Mr Topp? Can I go to the bathroom?” A student asked, which woke Shayne up out of his daydream. “Of course. Take the bathroom pass.” He smiled. “Thanks.”

Shayne stared at the clock. He loved his job, he did, but when he was in his thoughts like this, it didn’t help. Only ten minutes to go, and then he had paperwork time… Goddamn. He wondered how Damien was settling in. He had to go check, something just… nipped at him, saying he needed to. He waved in the next teacher he saw, whispering to her that he needed to run and get some office supplies. She was more than happy to cover for him.

Shayne rushed to the drama classes, and peered his head in the door.

“And 3, 2, 1, scene!”

Shayne watched him for a few minutes, impressed by his effortless teaching skills. He sighed, a smile plastered on his face. 

“So, taking it you two got history.” 

“Gah-!” Shayne jumped, turning round to see Jackie. “You scared me, Jackie!” He laughed slightly. Jackie smirked. “So, tell me. You got history with Damien?” Shayne sighed.“I, well… we went to college together.” He chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. “Mm. And it’s not hard to see that you clearly got feelings. Let your aunt Jackie sort this out. I’m gonna steal his lunch, and you take him out for lunch, got it?” Jackie said, pretty matter of fact, as if Shayne didn’t have any choice in the matter. Shayne just smiled. “You don’t have to do that, but, I’d like that…” He laughed. “Now, off with you. Can’t have him seeing you beforehand.”

And Shayne rushed off, back to his classroom.

* * *

Almost as soon as he got back, the bell sounded. He waved the students out, answering any questions they had along the way. Whew, paperwork time for an hour. Midterms were coming up, so he had a lot to get through. He sat at his desk briefly, logging off his computer in favour of going to the teachers lounge to do the paperwork. It just seemed more peaceful, is all. Shayne packed up what he needed, locking his classroom behind him. He walked calmly through the halls, eventually reaching the teachers lounge.

He peered through the glass briefly, spying only Keith and Noah. He walked in, setting his stuff down in ‘his’ spot. “Yoooo, Shayne!” Keith looked up from his laptop. “Hey Keith, hey Noah.” Shayne beamed. These guys were two of his best friends here. Keith taught history, while Noah taught chemistry. “Lesson planning, huh?” Noah asked. “Nope, just marking some research papers. For seniors, some of these kids have some issues with their spelling and grammar.” Shayne sighed. “Augustus, for example… ‘It has come to my attention that the Abraham Lincoln was shot on the 1865 in April 15th. Bullet to head, bad news.’.” Noah just laughed. “He’s the same in my class. He writes like he speaks sometimes.” Keith tutted. “Man, why do you guys get all the interesting kids? All I got is Bobby.” Shayne and Noah both laughed, before turning their attentions back to their laptops. 

Later still, the door to the teacher’s lounge opened once more, as it had done around seventeen times in the last forty minutes. However, this time, it was Ian. He was the second in command, after Sarah. “Hey, just letting you guys know that you’ve got 20 minutes until your next classes.” Shayne sighed. “It’s okay, Ian, we’re almost done. And I was keeping my eyes on the time.” Ian just hummed, going to make a coffee. “We’re almost out of my favourite coffee.” Noah said pretty matter of fact, not looking up from his laptop. “Damn it. I’ll have to get them to put in another order. Thanks for telling me, Noah.” He just made a grunt in response. “Alright… marked a third of my students research papers. I guess I should get to my classroom.” Shayne sighed, shutting his laptop.

As he left, he passed Jackie, who whispered; “Deed’s done, operation get Damien lunch will begin at 12pm.” Shayne just nodded, making his way to his classroom.

* * *

Damien was starving, and it was only 11am. He had his third class, and had done the whole introduction thing one too many times. Despite this, he had gotten very comfortable with his old teaching style, regularly donning characters and funny hats for each part of his class. 

However, he was starving, as his stomach reminded him for the third time in the last twenty minutes. He was with a class of freshmen, so the class was mostly filled with inappropriate dick jokes and well-timed bathroom excuses.

When the bell finally sounded, Damien grabbed his stuff and rushed to the teacher’s lounge. He couldn’t wait to dig in to his pasta salad. But, once he got to his bag, it wasn’t there. “Is this a first day prank, guys?” He asked, turning to face everyone tucking in to their own lunch. “What? Did you forget to pack your lunch?” Courtney asked. “You can have some of mine, if you want-.” Shayne walked in at that moment, as Jackie stepped on Courtney’s toes. “OUCH-!” She shrieked. “Hey, Damien.” Shayne smiled. “Why don’t you take Damien to get lunch, Shayne?!” Jackie suggested, very aggressively. “Oh, uh, that sounds good. I have to go get my own lunch, anyways.” Shayne smiled, going along with the plan. “Oh, sure.” Damien said, still confused about where his lunch got to.

And with that, the two were in Shayne’s car. “It’s been years since we went to get food together, huh?” Damien reminisced. “Yeah…” Shayne laughed. He put the key in the ignition, starting the car. “So, where do you want to go eat?”

“Something simple. In ‘N’ Out, if you will.” Damien bowed at that joke.

“Simple it is.” Shayne’s heart skipped a beat as Damien continued to bow. He was so endearing…


End file.
